FIFA WORLD CUP 2026

[Wrangler]

I hear this reason all the time but baseball is low scoring and so is ice hockey and they're 2 of the big 4 sports in the states

Legacy with baseball. If you look at ball parks, they are mostly empty nowadays. No generational transfer of enthusiasm.

While I agree hockey is part of the Big 4 sports in America, it is a distant 4th.

 

[Armour of God]

lol, I did wonder - but thought I would add my comments anyway.
Lets see who gets knocked out first , Australia , USA , England , I suppose I had better add Scotland.

Australia will get knocked out first.
We are good at sports but not football.

Did you have to mention Maradona - that was such a frustrating match to watch.
I was quite young in 66 and not really into football, but must admit the game was played much better back in the day. I remember Johan Cruyff.
Use to admire Pele

The game is still played well today i reckon. Maybe it's a bit more defensive. Most players that played against Pelé say he was the best. I've heard Bobby Charlton say he was the best among others.

It was always a conversation between Pelé and Maradona. But now it's a conversation between Messi and Ronaldo.

Given my Portuguese background I've always followed Ronaldo and I reckon his the greatest to ever play. His scored most international goals, most champions league goals and most total goals, almost 1,000 in total.

But it's a matter of opinion and will always be debated. That's the beauty of it

 

[ProDeo]

Ha good question.
I've seen goals like that scored before. The ball hits the underside of the crossbar and creates heaps of spin causing the ball to bounce away from the goal.
In the end England won 4-2 anyway, they won the 66 world cup fair and square.

For me the most controversial world cup goal will always be Maradona's hand of god against Engalnd in 86. It would never have stood with today's VAR technology.

So Maradonna used his hand ?

PS, I just noticed your Dutch.
The orange ones. Maybe the best football nation never to win a world cup. They were good in the 70s with Johan Cruyff, reached the final a few times but never won it. As a kid Van Basten was one of my favourite players and I loved the Dutch team of the 90s

The Dutch lost 3 finals, typical Dutch inferiority complex, we are such a tiny country on the map reaching the final is already fantastic. With such an attitude you never win. Nowadays the good times (for decades) are over. Current Dutch team nothing special.

 

[ProDeo]

Warm-Up Maradona UEFA-Cup semi-final 1989 HD​

 

[Wrangler]

But it's a matter of opinion and will always be debated. That's the beauty of it

It's a question my father always asked in all sports. I told him it's about the standard by which you measure greatness. The standard I used is who retired with the most records?

 

[Armour of God]

It was a goal.

So Maradonna used his hand ?

Ye, you know the goal, surely, they called the hand of god, Maradona even admitted he did it. 1986 world cup semi final vs England

The Dutch lost 3 finals, typical Dutch inferiority complex, we are such a tiny country on the map reaching the final is already fantastic. With such an attitude you never win. Nowadays the good times (for decades) are over. Current Dutch team nothing special.

I used to work with an old Uraguayan man who had watched every world cup since 1950, I called him history. He told me something that still haunts me to this day about winning the world cup. He said "small countries, they never win"

Portugal has the inferiority complex now. Tiny nation of just 10 million people. That's where my parents are from and iv always followed them. They rarely used to even qualify for the world cup before 2002, only 3 times before then. The big countries tend to get the referees decision on tight calls. My hopes are with Portugal as always.

 

[Armour of God]

It's a question my father always asked in all sports. I told him it's about the standard by which you measure greatness. The standard I used is who retired with the most records?

Yea the Messi vs Ronaldo debate has been going on for the last 15 years and I've always said just wait till they retire, then we can better analyse. Most records is a decent way to look at it, some want to look at who has most trophies, others just want to look at who was the best in their prime. It's all subjective.

What would be considered a successful world cup campaign for USA?
And who do you think will win it?

 

[Wrangler]

What would be considered a successful world cup campaign for USA?
And who do you think will win it?

Because I don’t follow it (tennis is my game), I have no opinion on the subject.

I know the USA women’s team has done MUCH better than the men’s team over the last decade.